Roche resigns; Patrick says public trust lost

Wednesday

Apr 30, 2014 at 6:00 AMApr 30, 2014 at 6:00 AM

By John J. Monahan TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF

BOSTON — Gov. Deval L. Patrick accepted the resignation of DCF Commissioner Olga I. Roche effective Tuesday, and named an administration troubleshooter, Erin Deveney, to take over as temporary head of the troubled agency.

The governor had stood by Ms. Roche's attempt to implement reforms at the agency that oversees abused and neglected children, despite a torrent of problems that have emerged within the agency and numerous calls for her removal over the last six months.

But the governor said Tuesday that since the death of two children from families under DCF watch in Fitchburg and Grafton this month, it became evident that change was needed at the top of the agency.

"It's clear from the events of this weekend she can no longer command the trust of the public or the confidence of her line staff," Mr. Patrick said, adding, "I agree the commissioner needs to step aside."

Mr. Patrick had said Monday that news of DCF inaction on a Grafton police abuse report involving a newborn found dead in her home earlier this month "rattled" his confidence in the agency. The same day, the president of the Senate and speaker of the House joined union leaders, other lawmakers and several gubernatorial candidates who had called earlier for Ms. Roche's removal.

DCF and Ms. Roche, a Worcester resident, have been under fire since 5-year-old Jeremiah Oliver of Fitchburg, whose family was being monitored by the agency, went missing late last year. Jeremiah's remains were found this month, and his mother and her boyfriend are being held on criminal abuse charges.

The agency is in the midst of hiring more social workers to reduce caseloads, implementing new policies to ensure they do not lose track of children under their care, instating new rules for foster parent screening, and developing use of tablet computers to give supervisors access to case information on nights and weekends.

Ms. Deveney, a deputy commissioner at DCF for the last month, had previously worked as chief of staff at the Registry of Motor Vehicles, and in other positions in agencies undertaking reforms.

The criticism of Ms. Roche's leadership of the agency escalated last weekend, when it was disclosed DCF took no action for six days on a child abuse and neglect report faxed to the agency about the 4-week-old Grafton infant.

That fax was sent April 3 by Grafton police after they responded in the early morning hours to reports that the baby was constantly crying. After having the baby checked by EMS personnel, police said they did not find the child to be in danger. But because they had numerous complaints about the infant's constant crying, the department sent the 51A abuse and neglect report by fax as a precaution.

State officials were unable to thoroughly explain Wednesday why the fax was not acted on by DCF during that period. Officials said the agency took up the report April 10, and had planned to have a social worker visit the home the next day. The baby, Aliana E. Lavigne, was found dead in her home April 11.

Gov. Patrick said that while he believed Ms. Roche was capable and experienced, every incident involving DCF was prompting more calls for her removal, creating an environment in which she could not maintain confidence of the public or her staff, even if she was not a fault for certain agency failures.

"For example, the Grafton police failed their obligations under law to call in a 51A," Mr. Patrick said, noting the police merely faxed the report to DCF, without complying with state law requiring it first be delivered verbally. Despite what he saw as an omission by police, the governor said, "The first response is that the commissioner should resign," in many quarters.

The governor said there were "serious questions" still about the handling of the faxed abuse report by DCF, including reports that it wasn't read because someone was on vacation.

"That was wrong," the governor said of that report, saying that person was not away from the office.

"Somebody in that agency read that fax, and didn't deal with it, and that is a serious concern. We have to figure out who that is, and the question has been asked," but not yet answered, Mr. Patrick said.

As for the Fitchburg infant's death, state Health and Human Services Secretary John Polanowicz said the case does not show faults on the part of the agency or the child's family. In that case, a 16-day-old infant named Bailey Irish was brought by her parents to HealthAlliance Hospital — Leominster Campus Saturday morning, with no pulse or respiration, and was pronounced dead.

"If you look at the case, the amount of support the family had up to and including the unfortunate death of the child, it was impressive," Mr. Polanowicz said. "There were folks that were doing everything we asked. We have been working with them through their other child. That is just a tragic and unfortunate incident and that will be borne out when we get the final result" of an investigation, he said.